Welcome all to my first 101 Dalmatians story!
Takes place in the Book-verse.
As good as the movie is – and they did make some changes which benefited the story – most of the other changes drag the film down.
Yeah, sorry if I sound like a purist, but I find the Book to be better.
Although I did take the liberty of giving Missus a name in this story. Honey.
And it may or may not be up to standard with my most recent work.
Seeking
Cadpig's tiny paws scraped through the stinging, chilling snow. The winter air bit deeply though her skin, and it felt like her bones had frosted over. She shivered and whimpered uncontrollably. Every step was freezing agony. Every mile was arctic purgatory.
Pongo and Honey's litter of 15 were the youngest batch of the 101, and Cadpig herself was the youngest and smallest of the last 15. She whined and sniffled again as endless snowflakes battered her vision. The dark grey skyline filled every dog in that black and white cavalcade with misery. If this kept up, they wouldn't even make it halfway to London before they succumbed to the weather.
Her front paws stumbled again and she collapsed face first down on the frozen ground. The snow was mercilessly coarse on her soft flesh and fur.
Cadpig could only barely feel another puppy approach her.
Her older brother, Patch.
"Please Cadpig, get up," the rugged pup beseeched, trying to get his own small body to push up his youngest sibling from the ground. It was there that Patch realized with painful comprehension that despite having the most physical strength out of the litter, he was still just a pup, barely over a few weeks old.
"I can't," Cadpig whimpered quietly. Patch tried fruitlessly to force back tears from his eyes.
"Don't give up, Cadpig," he panted helplessly, despair crashing down on him like the many snowflakes in this accursed blizzard. For adult dogs, it was bearable, if not inconvenient. To a puppy though, every icy flake sapped their strength and brought them closer to facing their own mortality.
Cadpig whimpered again.
"Patch… help me…"
Her tiny voice was now barely even a whisper in the howling wind.
"Sis," Patch pleaded desperately, looking around blindly in the grey and white dotted haze for anyone who would be able to give them salvation.
Most of their other siblings had to pass by. They were not strong enough or big enough to help. They could only level pitying gazes and words of condolences upon their two anguished siblings. Most of them just passed by.
But one puppy was able to join his helpless brother and sister.
"Lucky!" gasped Patch in thankful solace as his eldest sibling trudged alongside.
Lucky took only a moment to assess the desolate situation in front of him before barking loudly, strongly, and resolutely to summon his parents over from behind him.
Pongo and Honey, hearing the cry of their eldest child, trotted over to them as quickly as they could.
"We need to find a place to rest for everyone or none of us will make it," explained Lucky to his mother and father. Pongo turned to his wife.
"Dear," he barked through the screaming wind, "I'll stay here to look after the three. Go ahead to the front and ask the Colonel if there is anywhere nearby where we can stop and hunker down for the night."
"Of course, dear," replied Honey before she forced her way up to the line's leaders with fierce motherly courage. She passed Lieutenant Willow on the way, who was marshalling the pups in the middle.
"Ma'am, everything alright back there?" the frisky cat asked. Honey made an admiring mental note that Willow was just as dogged and determined as the old Colonel upfront, despite being physically weaker than the majority of the puppies present.
"We have to find a place to rest for the night. I'm gonna ask the Colonel if there is someplace where we can seek refuge," Honey replied, wasting no time in explaining the dire predicament.
"I concur," the Lieutenant agreed, "Our farmland is nearby – we may be even on the property right now – so if my memory serves the barn should be close by too."
"Thank you," said Honey before continuing her struggle against the battering winds. After a few more minutes of dogged persistence, she reached the front.
"Colonel! Colonel!"
"Yes, Missus? What is our situation at the rear?" the elderly sheepdog inquired, his tone still amazingly formal despite the fiercely frantic atmosphere.
"Not good, I'm afraid," the mother reported, "My litter of puppies are, as you know, the youngest and smallest out of the entire lot. The winter weather's starting to drag them down."
The Missus turned her attention briefly to the long line of struggling pups. Many of them held the tail of the one in front of them in their jaws in a defeated attempt to continue the death march. Lots of little canine teeth chattered uncontrollably, and though some repressed it better than others, all of them were starting to shiver and bog down in their pace.
"Now that you mention it, everyone's starting to succumb to the blizzard. Our barn is nearby this area. We can wait out 'til dawn there," the Colonel spoke warmly.
"That's a relief," said Honey as she made her way back down the line. Every so often she turned to the puppies, giving encouragements.
"Just a little further, children! We've got a place where we can sleep for the night! Let us get out of this terrible cold!"
The Missus reached the back and found her husband carrying their youngest child in his jaws by the scruff of her neck. Cadpig was barely conscious by now. The eldest brother spoke gently but urgently to his dwindling sibling.
"Hey, Cadpig. Look at me. Look at me. Stay awake," Lucky said, never taking his eyes off Cadpig's.
"She'll be fine with us, son," Missus spoke to her oldest, "Now, lead your little brother back to the others."
"Look, Lucky," Patch began to make talk with his big brother as the two trudged their way behind the other pups, "These past few days, I know I've been quite a jerk jock to you and the others… but… I don't know, I've always thought that heroes were supposed to be tough."
Lucky looked at his younger brother, his eyes openly spreading warmth.
"Patch, real heroes – like Thunderbolt – don't have a need to act all rough and tumble all the time. They are strong enough to be gentle. You are strong enough to be gentle. Trust me, Patch, you are a hero when it really counts."
"Thanks, Luck."
"No problem, brother."
One minute they had just finished their close conversation, the next minute they found they found themselves joining the rest of the pups who were busy gathering into a large semi-circle. Soon they heard the gravelly voice of the Colonel. The old dog addressed them from his perch on top of a rock. The faint outline of a barn could just be seen in the grey haze behind him.
"Stick together everyone! One by one you will enter the barn calmly, so that your parents can count you each! Me and Lieutenant Willow will marshal you from the back, so prepare!"
As the pups organized themselves into relatively equal lines, Lucky and Patch joined the nearest one.
"You think we'll ever make it back to London?" asked Patch to Lucky.
"We may do so. But keep your focus on the here and now. We have sought refuge and found it," the older pup said.
So, despite the overwhelming cold of winter, the Colonel, the Lieutenant, Pongo, his Missus, and the 101 puppies endured the unforgiving weather for a bit more with the courage and unity of a family. In their hearts they knew they would make the journey back home. Together.
They would seek until they had found solace.
They would bark and howl until salvation answered them.
They would run as one until they had reached their destination triumphant.
Together.
Yeah, I honestly think this is one of my lesser works, but I feel it is still one that I had to get out of myself to help ride out my temporary writer's block.
Tell me what you think in a review.
Transformers 0 over the moon and out!